Southern Conference on Race Relations, Durham, N.C., October 20, 1942 : statement of purpose ..

SOUTHERN CONFERENCE ON
RACE RELATIONS

Durham, N. C October 20, 1942

Statement of Purpose

A Basis for Inter-racial Cooperation and
Development in the South:
A Statement by Southern Negroes

—Sub-Committee Report

A List of Those Who Attended the Conference

*

Other Comments on Conference Statement

*

Press Comments

P. B. YOUNG, Chairman

LUTHER P. JACKSON, Secretary- Treasurer

GORDON B. HANCOCK, Director

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2014

https://archive.org/details/southernconferenOOsout

Statement of Purpose

By

GORDON B. HANCOCK
Director

If as has been said, there are some hours of more
than sixty minutes and some minutes of more than sixty
seconds, surely we have come upon such a great moment
in the history of our race and nation. It is a moment
of great possibilities and not a little surcharged with
drama. Many things have been spoken for him and
against him, to him and about him; but the Southern Ne-
gro is today speaking for himself. His laudable attempt
should be a source of pride to the Negro and white South,
and to the Negro and white North, East, and West. Oft-
times the little we do for ourselves proves more meaning-
ful than the great things others do for us. however praise-
worthy what others do, may be.

The Inception Of The Conference

The inception of this conference hinges about the tragedy that
took place at the close of World War I, when returning Negro sol-
diers were met not with expressions and evidences of the democracy
for which they had fought and for which thousands of their fellow
race-men had died. Instead there was a sweeping surge of bitter-
ness and rebuff that in retrospect constitutes one of the ugliest
scars on the fair face of our nation. Interracial matters were left
adrift and tragic was our experience and distressing was our dis-
illusionment. Today the nations are locked in mortal combat and
the situation is desperate and dangerous, with the scales of fortune
so delicately poised that we dare not predict what a day may bring
forth; but this we know, that the Negro is again taking the field in
defense of his nation. Quite significant also is the fact that where-
as the pronounced anti-Negro movement followed the last war, it
is getting under way even before the issues of war have been de-
cided. In an hour of national peril, efforts are being made to defeat
the Negro first and the Axis powers later. Already the dire threat
to throw again the Negro question into the politics of the South is
becoming more and more dangerous. This is a direct challenge
to the Negroes of the South, who have most to gain if this threat
is throttled and most to lose if it is fulfilled.

The Purpose Of The Conference

The purpose then of this conference is to try to do something
about this developing situation. We are proposing to set forth in
certain "Articles of Cooperation" just what the Negro wants and is
expecting of the post-war South and nation. Instead of letting the

demagogues guess what we want, we are proposing to make our
wants and aspirations a matter of record, so clear that he who runs
may read. We are hoping in this way to challenge the constructive
cooperation of that element of the white South who express them-
selves as desirous of a New Deal for the Negroes of the South.

In our Articles of Cooperation we are seeking for a common
denominator of constructive actions for Negroes and this group
of whites who are doing many of the things we want done, and
cannot do ourselves. In other words we are proposing to draft a
New Charter of Race Relations in the South. The old charter is
paternalistic and traditional; we want a new Charter that is fra-
ternalistic and scientific; for the old charter is not compatible with
the manhood and security of the Negro, neither is it compatible
with the dignity and self-respect of the South. It ever leaves the
South morally on the defensive! The Negro has paid the full price
of citizenship in the South and nation, and the Negro wants to en-
joy the full exercise of this citizenship, no more and no less.

No Cleavage Desired

The purpose of this conference then is not secessionist. We
of the South know full well that any attempt of the Southern Negro
to secede from Negroes of other regions will be even more fatal and
abortive than the attempt in the 1860's. Our major objective is
accession not secession. This conference is not isolationist.
Science, religion and education have doomed isolation and isolation-
ism forever. If the Nations separated by the seven seas cannot
be isolated how much less can the Negroes of the South. We know
that the Negro question of the South is a part of the great question
throughout the nation and world. We know that before the ques-
tion is settled anywhere it must be settled everywhere. But we also
know that constitutional ailments may often be helped by local
measures. This conference is not seditionist. We are not meet-
ing clandestinely in bundist fashion; but rather as citizens of the
South and nation and well within our Constitutional rights and
prerogatives. We therfeore need not cringe and crawl, tremble or
truckle or even tip-toe, as we deliberate on a possible way to relieve
a pressure that is already becoming critical.

Task Delicate, But Not Impossible

To be sure, our task is a delicate one, but delicate tasks are
never impossible, if performed by men who are not themselves
delicate in spirit. More often the firm handling of delicate issues
proves the wiser course. The matter handled in Panuel Hall was
delicate, but it was firmly handled and the world thereby was bless-
ed. So in this historic meeting today, whatever advance step we
may make in race relations will rebound to the advantage of the
South and nation no less than to the advancement of the Negro
race. Let us bear ever in mind that the soul of the South and
nation are at stake no less than the fortunes of the Negro race.
The greater tragedy of critical situations lies not in the impair-
ment of circumstances and fortunes, but of spirits. Should our
just demands be denied by the white South, we can still appeal to

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the conscience of the nation; and failing here, we can appeal to
the Supreme Court of History, before the Great White Throne of
the Future. Oppressed groups of whatever persuasion have always
the assurance that in their struggles for deliverance they have
Time and Right and God on their side. As we enter upon our
deliberations let us remember that not only is our manhood being
weighed in the balance, but our statesmanship also.

The sponsors of this conference may not have fashioned the
most well-wrought conference imaginable, but what they did was
at a tremendous sacrifice; for none of them had the time and means
to give as the cause demanded; but they did the best they could.
We have brought to you a conference that is absolutely unfettered
and unintimidated. There are no secret commitments, no secret
understanding, no dotted lines, no secret financial underwritings.
May God help us on this historic occasion to quit ourselves like
men.

★

A Basis for Inter-Racial Cooperation
and Development in the South

A Statement by Southern Negroes

—Issued December \5th, 1942, by a Sub-Committee
of the Southern Conference on Race Relations

The war has sharpened the issue of Negrowhite re-
lations in the United States, and particularly in the
South. A result has been increased racial tensions, fears,
and aggressions, and an opening up of the basic ques-
tions of racial segregation and discrimination, Negro mi-
nority rights, and democratic freedom, as they apply
practically in Negro-white relations in the South. These
issues are acute and threaten to become even more se-
rious as they increasingly block, through the deeper
fears aroused, common sense consideration for even ele-
mentary improvements in Negro status, and the welfare
of the country as a whole.

With these problems in mind, we, a group of south-
ern Negroes, realizing that the situation calls for both
candor and wisdom, and in the belief that we voice the
sentiments of many of the Negroes of the Nation as well
as the South, take this means of recording our considered
views of the issues before us.

(1) Our Nation is engaged in a world-wide struggle, the success
of which, both in arms and ideals, is paramount and de-
mands our first loyalty.

i

(2) Our loyalty does not, in our view, preclude consideration
now of problems and situations that handicap the working
out of internal improvements in race relations essential to
our full contribution to the war effort, and of the inevitable
problems of post-war reconstruction, especially in the South
where we reside.

(3) The South, with its twenty-five million people, one-third
of whom are Negroes, presents a unique situation, not only
because of the size of the Negro population but because of
the legal and customary patterns of race relations which
are invariably and universally associated with racial dis-
criminations. We recognize the strength and age of these
patterns.

We are fundamentally opposed to the principle and prac-
tice of compulsory segregation in our American society,
whether of races or classes or creeds, however, we regard
it as both sensible and timely to address ourselves now to
the current problems of racial discrimination and neglect
and to ways in which we may cooperate in the advance-
ment of programs aimed at the sound improvement of race
relations within the democratic framework.

(4) We regard it as unfortunate that the simple efforts to cor-
rect obvious social and economic injustices continue, with
such considerable popular support, to be interpreted as the
predatory ambition of irresponsible Negroes to invade the
privacy of family life.

(5) We have the courage and faith to believe, however, that it
is possible to evolve in the South a way of life, consistent
with the principles for which we as a Nation are fighting
throughout the world, that will free us all, white and Ne-
gro alike, from want, and from throttling fears.

POLITICAL AND CIVIL RIGHTS

1. We regard the ballot as a safeguard of democracy. Any
discrimination against citizens in the exercise of the voting privi-
lege, on account of race or poverty, is detrimental to the freedom
of these citizens and to the integrity of the State. We therefore
record ourselves as urging now:

a. The abolition of the poll tax as a prerequisite to voting.

b. The abolition of the white primary.

c. The abolition of all forms of discriminatory practices, evas-
ions of the law, and intimidations of citizens seeking to exer-
cise their right of franchise.

2. Exclusion of Negroes from jury service because of race has
been repeatedly declared unconstitutional. This practice we believe
can and should be discontinued now.

3. a. Civil rights include personal security against abuses of
police power by white officers of the law. These abuses, which in-
clude wanton killings, and almost routine beatings of Negroes,
whether they be guilty or innocent of an offense, should be stopped
now, not only out of regard for the safety of Negroes, but of com-
mon respect for the dignity and fundamental purpose of the law.

b. It is the opinion of this group that the employment of Ne-

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gro police will enlist the full support of Negro citizens in control of
lawless elements of their own group.

4. In the public carriers and terminals, where segregation of the
races is currently made mandatory by law as well as by established
custom, it is the duty of Negro and white citizens to insist that
these provisions be equal in kind and quality and in character of
maintenance.

5. Although there has been, over the years, a decline in lynch-
ings, the practice is still current in some areas of the South, and
substantially, even if indirectly, defended by resistance to Federal
legislation designed to discourage the practice. We ask that the
States discourage this fascistic expression by effective enforcement
of present or of new laws against this crime by apprehending and
punishing parties participating in this lawlessness.

If the States are unable, or unwilling to do this, we urge the sup-
port of all American citizens who believe in law and order in secur-
ing Federal legislation against lynching.

6. The interests and securities of Negroes are involved directly
in many programs of social planning and administration; in the
emergency rationing, wage and rent control programs. We urge the use
of qualified Negroes on these boards, both as a means of intelligent
representation and a realistic aid to the functioning of these bodies.

INDUSTRY AND LABOR

Continuing opposition to the employment of Negroes in certain
industries appears to proceed from (1) the outdated notions of an
economy of scarcity, inherited from an industrial age when participa-
tion in the productive enterprises was a highly competitive privilege;

(2) the effects of enemy propaganda designed to immobilize a large
number of potentially productive workers in the American war effort;

(3) the age-old prejudices from an era when the economic system
required a labor surplus which competed bitterly within its own
ranks for the privilege of work; (4) the established custom of re-
serving technical processes to certain racial groups; and (5) craft
monopolies which have restricted many technical skills to a few
workers.

Our collective judgment regarding industrial opportunities for
Negroes may be summarized as follows:

1. The only tenable basis of economic survival and development
for Negroes is inclusion in unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled
branches of work in the industries or occupations of the region
to the extent that they are equally capable. Circumstances
will vary so as to make impossible and impracticable any ex-
act numerical balance, but the principles enunciated by the
President's Fair Employment Practices Committee are re-
garded by us as sound and economically essential.

2. There should be the same pay for the same work.

3. Negro workers should seek opportunities for collective bar-
gaining and security through membership in labor organiza-
tions. Since there can be no security for white workers if
Negroes are unorganized and vice versa, labor unions of white
workers should seek the organization of Negro workers, on a
fair and equal basis.

4. We deplore the practice of those labor unions which bar

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Negroes from membership, or otherwise discriminate against
them, since such unions are working against the best interest of
the labor movement. We hold that only those labor unions
which admit Negroes to membership and participation on a
fair and democratic basis should be eligible for the benefits of
the National Labor Relations Board, Railway Labor Act, State
Labor Relations Acts and other protective labor legislation.

5. It is the duty of local, state and federal agencies to insist upon
and enforce provisions for the industrial training of Negroes
equal in quality and kind with that of other citizens. We be-
lieve, further, that Negroes should have equal opportunity in
training programs carried on by industries and by labor or-
ganizations.

6. We urge Negro representation on regional organizations con-
cerned with the welfare of workers.

7. We regard the wage-and-job-freezing order of the War Man-
power Commission as holding the seeds of a distinct disad-
vantage to Negroes and other marginal workers. Most of
these workers are now employed in the lowest-income job
brackets. The "freeze" order can remove the opportunity for
economic advancement. There is as yet no assurance that
under existing circumstances the War Manpower Commission
can deal more equitably by the Negro in the future than it
has in the past.

8. We are convinced that the South's economic and cultural de-
velopment can be accelerated by increasing the purchasing
power and skills of Negro workers.

SERVICE OCCUPATIONS

Any realistic estimate of the occupational situation of Negroes
supports the view that Negroes will be employed in greatest propor-
tions for a long time in service occupations. We see, however, possi-
bilities of making of these fields scientifically guided areas in
which training and organization will play a greater part in bring-
ing about results mutually beneficial to employer and employee.
We believe that greater service will be rendered and greater good
will be engendered in the service fields if the following principles
are observed:

1. More thorough training should be provided workers who plan
to enter the service field, but the reward of the job and treat-
ment on the job should be such as to make the workers feel
that their training is justified. Opportunity should be given
the service worker to advance through the opening up of ad-
ditional opportunities.

2. A wholesome environment, living accommodations, food,
uniforms and rest rooms, all of an approved standard, should
be provided service workers.

3. Opportunity should be given the service worker to live, after
his stipulated hours of work, as an individual undisturbed in
his private life by the whims and caprices of his employers.

4. In view of the strides made by labor in general, while the
service worker's lot has remained about the. same, service

8

workers should be organized into unions with recognized af-
filiations.*

5. Service workers should be included in the provisions for old
age insurance, unemployment compensation, workmen's com-
pensation, the wage and hour act, and other benefits of So-
cial Security legally provided to workers of other categories
We believe that these provisions will help to insure some intelli-
gent service and wholesome loyalty (which will improve both the
quality of labor and personal relations) in service occupations.

EDUCATION

As equal opportunity for all citizens is the very foundation of
the democratic faith, and of the Christian ethic which gave birth to
the ideal of democratic living, it is imperative that every measure
possible be taken to insure an equality of education to Negroes, and,
indeed to all underprivileged peoples.

1. Basic to improvement in Negro education is better schools,
which involves expenditures by States of considerably more funds
for the Negro schools. This group believes that a minimum re-
quirement now is (a) equalization of salaries of white and Negro
teachers on the basis of equal preparation and experience; (b) an
expanded school building program for Negro schools designed to
overcome the present racial disparity in physical facilities; this
program to begin as soon as building materials are available; (c)
revision of the school program in terms of the social setting, voca-
tional needs and marginal cultural characteristics of the Negro
children; and (d) the same length of school term for all children
in local communities. Our growing knowledge of the effect of en-
vironment upon the intelligence and social adjustment of children,
in fact leads us to believe that to insure equality of educational
opportunity it is not enough to provide for the under -privileged
child, of whatever race, the same opportunities provided for those
on superior levels of familial, social, and economic life. We feel
it a function of Government to assure equalization far beyond the
mere expenditure of equivalent funds for salaries and the like.

2. The education of Negroes In the South has reached the
point at which there is increased demand for graduate and pro-
fessional training. This group believes that this training should be
made available equally for white and Negro eligible students in
terms defined by the United States Supreme Court in the decision
on the case of Gaines versus the University of Missouri.

3. Where it is established that States cannot sustain the added
cost of equalization, Federal funds should be made available to
overcome the differentials between white and Negro facilities and
between southern and national standards.

4. It is the belief of this group that the special problems of
Negro education make demands for intelligent and sympathetic
representation of these problems on school boards by qualified per-
sons of the Negro race.

♦In the present hysteria of many housewives who are losing poorly paid
servants to better paying war industries, it seems desirable to emphasize
that this proposal bears no relation to the fantastic and probably Axis
inspired rumors of so-called "Eleanor Clubs."

9

5. The education of Negro youth can be measurably aided by
the use of Negro enforcement officers of truancy and compulsory
education laws.

AGRICTLTURE

The South is the most rural section of the Nation, and Negroes,
who constitute 33 per cent of its population, are responsible for an
important share of the agricultural production on southern farms.

We recognize that the South is economically handicapped and
that many of its disabilities are deeply rooted in agricultural mal-
adjustments. To win the war, there is need for increased produc-
tion of food, fibre and fats. In the present organization of agricul-
ture, Negroes are a large part of the sharecropper and tenant group
and a great majority of the rural Negro workers are in this class.
Circumstances deny the Negro farmer sufficient opportunity to
make his full contribution as a citizen. We suggest the following
measures as means of increasing the production of the area, raising
the status and spirits of Negro farmers, and of improving the re-
gion's contribution to the total war effort.

1. Establishment of sufficient safeguards in the system of ten-
ancy to promote the development of land and home owner-
ship and more security on the land, by:

a. Written contracts

b. Longer lease terms

c. Higher farm wages for day laborers

d. Balanced farm programs, including food and feed
crops for present tenants and day laborers.

2. Adequate Federal assistance to Negro farmers should be pro-
vided on an equitable basis. The war effort can be materially
aided if adequate provisions are made now for the interpre-
tation of governmental policies to rural Negroes.

3. The equitable distribution of funds for teaching agriculture
in the Negro land grant colleges to provide agricultural re-
search and experimentation for Negro farmers.

4. The appointment of qualified Negroes to governmental plan-
ning and policy making bodies concerned with the common
farmer, and the membership of Negro farmers in general
farmers' organizations and economic cooperatives, to provide
appropriate representation and to secure maximum benefit*
to our common wealth.

MILITARY SERVICE

We recognize and welcome the obligation of every citizen to
share in the military defense of the nation and we seek, along with
the privilege of offering our lives, the opportunity of other citizens
of full participation in all branches of the military service, and of
advancement in responsibility and rank according to ability.

Negro soldiers, in line of military duty and in training in the
South, encounter particularly acute racial problems in transporta-
tion and in recreation and leave areas. They are frequently mis-
treated by the police. We regard these problems as unnecessary and
destructive to morale.

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SOCIAL WELFARE AND HEALTH

1. We believe that some of the more acute problems of Negro
health, family and personal disorganization are a reflection of de-
ficiencies in economic opportunity, but that social and health serv-
ices for Negroes will continue to be necessary in considerable a-
mounts even with improvement, of their economic status As a
means of reducing the mortality and public contagion resulting
from inadequacies of medical attention and health knowledge, this
group believes that minimum health measures for Ngroes would
include the following:

a. Mandatory provisions that a proportion of the fa-
cilities in all public hospitals be available for Ne-
gro patients;

b. That Negro doctors be either included on the staff
for services to Negro patients, according to their
special qualifications, or permitted as practitioners
the same privilege and courtesy as other practi-
tioners in the public hospitals;

c. That Negro public health nurses and social work-
ers be more extensively used in both public and
private organizations.

2. We advocate the extension of slum clearance and erection of
low-cost housing as a general as well as special group advantage
The Federal government has set an excellent precedent here with
results that offer much promise for the future.

It is a wicked notion that the struggle of the Negro for citizen-
ship is a struggle against the best interests of the Nation. To urge
such a doctrine, as many are doing, is to preach disunity and to
deny the most elementary principles of American life and govern-
ment.

The effect of the war has been to make the Negro, in a sense, the
symbol and protagonist of every other minority in America and in
the world at large. Local issues in the South, while admittedly
holding many practical difficulties, must be met wisely and cou-
rageously if this Nation is to become a significant political entity
in a new international world. The correction of these problems is
not only a moral matter, but a practical necessity in winning the
war and in winning the peace. Herein rests the chance to reveal
our greatest weakness or our greatest strength.

[Signed]

CHAS. S. JOHNSON

RUFUS E. CLEMENT
HORACE MANN BOND

Chairman Sub -Editorial

Committee
GORDON B. HANCOCK
P. D. PATTERSON
BENJAMIN E. MAYS
ERNEST DELPIT

JAMES E. JACKSON
WM. M. COOPER

P. B. YOUNG
Conference Chairman

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In Attendance at Southern Race
Relations Conference

A complete list of those attending the Southern Conference on
Race Relations held at the North Carolina College for Negroes, Dur-
ham, October 20th, is as follows:

DR. CHAS. S. JOHNSON, Director. De-
partment of Social Sciences, Fisk Univer-
sity, Nashville, Tenn.

DEAN R. O'HARA LANIER, Hampton
Institute, Hampton, Va.

DR. H. L. McCROREY, President, John-
son C. Smith University, Charlotte, N C.

DR. L. F. PALMER, Executive Secre-
tary, Virginia State Teachers Association,
Newport News, Va.

O. M. PHARR, Principal, Unity High
School, South Carolina.

REV. J. A. VALENTINE, D.D., Durham,
N. C.

DR. GORDON B. HANCOCK, Depart-
ment of Sociology, Virginia Union Uni-
versity, Richmond, Va.

DEAN MOSES S. BELTON, Johnson C.
Smith University, Charlotte, N. C.

WILLIAM M. COOPER, Director of Ex-
tension Work, Hampton Institute, Va.

ASBURY HOWARD, representing Mine,
Mill and Smelter Workers (CIO), Bes-
semer, Ala.

DR. JOHN M. GANDY, President-Emeri-
tus, Virginia State College, Petersburg, Va.

L. H. FOSTER, Treasurer-Business Man-
ager, and Acting President. Virginia State
College, Petersburg, Va.

PRESIDENT J. B. WATSON, A. and M.
College, Pine Bluff, Ark.

CLARENCE A. LAWS, Executive Secre-
tary, New Orleans Urban League, New Or-
leans, La.

DON A. DAVIS, Comptroller, Hampton
Institute, Chairman Executive Committee,
National Negro Business League, Hampton,
Va. ;

REV. H. B. BULTER, President, Baptist
State Convention, Hartsville, S. C.

PROF. J. B. BLANTON, Principal, Voor-
hees N. and I, School, Denmark, S. C.

WILLIAM Y. BELL, Executive Secretary,
Atlanta Urban League, Atlanta, Ga.

J. A. BACOATS, Vice President, Bene-
dict College, Columbia, S. C.

MRS. R. E. CLAY, Bristol, Tenn.

FORRESTER B. WASHINGTON, Direc-
tor, School of Social Work, Atlanta, Ga.

JESSE O. THOMAS, Staff Assistant,
War Bonds and Stamps, Washington, D. C.

JAMES T. TAYLOR, Dean of Men,
North Carolina College, Durham, N. C.

DR. AND MRS. J. G. STUART, Colum-
bia, S. C.

ROBERT A. SPICELY, Director, Com-
mercial Dietetics, Tuskegee Institute, Ala.

C. C. SPAULDING, President, North
Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co., and
Mechanics and Farmers Bank, Durham, N.
C.

MRS. ANDREW W. SIMPKINS, Social
Worker, Columbia, S. C.

DR. JAMES E. SHEPARD, President,
North Carolina College, Durham, N. C.

REV. J. ALVIN RUSSELL, D.D., Pres-
ident, St. Paul's Polytechnic Institute,
Lawrenceville, Va.

G. D. ROGERS, President, Central Life
Insurance Company, Tampa, Fla.

DR. F. D. PATTERSON, President, Tus-
kegee Institute, Tuskegee Institute, Ala.

ROSCOE C. MITCHELL, Associated Ne-
gro Press Representative, Richmond. Va.

JOHN W. MITCHELL, State Agent, A.
and T. College, Greensboro, N. C.

DR. BENJ. E. MAYS, President, More-
house College, Atlanta, Ga.

JAMES G. MARTIN, JR., Business
Agent and Financial Secretary, Carpenters'
Local No. 544, Baltimore, Md.

DR. HORACE MANN BOND. President,
Fort Valley State College, Fort Valley, Ga.

THEODORE MALLORY, Secretary-
Treasurer, United Transport Service Em-
ployees of America, Member International
Executive Board, Atlanta, Ga.

DR. AND MRS. D. K. JENKINS, Co-
lumbia, S. C.

DR. LUTHER P. JACKSON, Chairman
of the Department of History, Virginia
State College, Petersburg, Va.

EDGAR P. HOLT, Vice President. South-
ern Negro Youth Congress, Birmingham,
Ala.

WALTER J. HUGHES, M.D., State
Board of Health, Raleigh, N. C.

JAMES E. JACKSON, Executive Secre-
tary, Southern Negro Youth Congress,
Birmingham, Ala.

J. W. HOLLY, President, Georgia Nor-
mal College, Albany, Ga.

K. W. GREEN, Dean, State A. and M.
College, Orangeburg, S. C.

ERNEST DELPIT, President and Busi-
ness Manager, Carpenters' Local, New Or-
leans, La. (A. F. of L.)

G. HAMILTON FRANCIS, M.D., Speak-
er House of Delegates, National Medical
Association, Norfolk, Va.

REV. JOHN E. CULMER, Rector. Epis-
copal Church, Miami, Fla.

DR. ROBERT P. DANIEL, President,
Shaw University, Raleigh. N. C.

A. B. COOKE, Business Agent, Local
No. 815, Carpenters, Columbia, S. C.

DR. RUFUS E. CLEMENT, President,
Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga.

D. G. GARLAND, Representative, Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, Winston-Salem,
N. C.

MAJ. W. M. WHITEHEAD, Principal
School for the Handicapped, Newport
News, Va.

D. W. BYRD, M.D., Chairman. Health
Commission, National Medical Association,
Norfolk, Va.

12

C. H. BYNUM, Field Secretary, Com-
mission on Interracial Cooperation, Dallas,
Teaxs.

DR. CHARLOTTE HAWKINS BROWN,
President, Palmer Memorial Institute, Se-
dalia, N. C.

P. B. YOUNG, Editor-Publisher, Journal
and Guide, Norfolk, Va.

EDWARD MASON, representing Dining
Car Cooks and Waiters, Houston, Texas.
REPRESENTED BY LETTER

C. A. SCOTT, Publisher, Atlanta Daily
World, and Scott Chain of Weekly News-
papers, Atlanta, Ga.

CARTER WESLEY, Editor-Publisher,
The Informer, Dallas Express and New
Orleans Sentinel, Houston, Texas.

MRS. ZELLAR R. BOOTHE, Oklahoma
City, Okla.

DEAN V. E. DANIEL, Wiley College,
Marshall, Texas.

CLAUDE A. BARNETT, Director, Asso-
ciated Negro Press, Chicago, 111.

Others who sent Telegrams endorsing
the Conference were:

DR. J. R. E. LEE, President, Florida A.
and M. College, Tallahassee, Fla.

ATTY. J. LEONARD LEWIS, Jackson-
ville, Fla.

ATTY. J. R. BOOKER, Little Rock, Ark.

MRS. ORA BROWN STOKES, Washing-
ton, D. C.

PRESIDENT H. L. TRIGG, Elizabeth
City State Teachers College, Elizabeth
City, N. C.

PRESIDENT DAVID D. JONES, Bennett
College, Greensboro, N. C.

MRS. H. L. McCROREY, Charlotte, N.

C.

DR. W. A. FOUNTAIN, President, Mor-
ris Borwn College, Atlanta, Ga.

BISHOP B. J. KING, Atlanta, Ga.

PRESIDENT JAS. BRAWLEY, Clark
University, Atlanta, Ga.

PRESIDENT W. J. HALE, Tennessee A.
and I. College, Nashville, Tenn.

DR. MARY BRANCH, President, Tillots-
ton College, Austin, Texas.

DR. L. H. BELL, Mississippi State Col-
lege, Alcorn, Miss.

WILEY A. HALL, Executive Secretary,
Urban League, Richmond, Va.

DR. J. M. ELLISON, President, Virginia
Union University, Richmond, Va.

M. F. WHITAKER, President, South
Carolina State College, Orangeburg, S. C.

★

Comments on the Conference Statement

DR. MORDECAI W. JOHNS.ON, President Howard University,
Washington, D. C.
I am impressed at once with the fact that the statement is a
judiciously worded address from southerners to southerners; that it
includes representatives of labor, the press and many secular or-
ganizations, as well as the schools and the churches; and that the
statement is designed to address itself to matters of immediate
concern in which it is felt that substantial progress is possible now.

* * * *

DR. GUY B. JOHNSON, Research Professor, University of North
Carolina.

I feel that this is a remarkable and a reasonable statement of
aims upon which all intelligent people in the south should be will-
ing to unite.

* * * *

DR. FLORENCE M. READ, President, Spelman College, Atlanta, Ga.
It is a statement that I think should have wide circulation.

* * * *

DR. W. A. FOUNTAIN, President, Morris Brown College, Atlanta,
Georgia.

There is a great need for our taking steps to bring about im-
proved relations between the races, and I am happy to have the
privilege of serving in whatever capacity I can.

* * # *

JUDGE WILLIAM H. HASTIE, Civilian Aide to the Secretary of
War; Dean Howard University Law School.
I am impressed most of all with the fact that your detailed and

13

carefully worked-out statement shows the fundamental agreement
of Negroes throughout the country upon the next steps which
must be taken toward complete emancipation.

* * * *

DR. SAMUEL C. MITCHELL, University of Richmond.

That is a statesmanlike paper. It is able, candid and effective.
It should mark an epoch in the cause of good-will between the races
in the South.

* * * *

CLAUDE A. BARNETT, Director, Associated Negro Press, Chicago,
Illinois.

I am profoundly impressed by the statement which has been
issued by the Southern Race Relations Conference. It is forceful,
sane, practical and realistic.

* * * *

DR. BELLE BOONE BEARD, Department of Economics and Soci-
ology, Sweet Briar College.
I have read every word of the statement with the greatest in-
terest and want to congratulate the conference upon its action.

* * * *

LEWIS L. SCOTT, Attorney-At-Law, Columbia, Tennessee.

I wish to congratulate you and your associates on the very fine
effort you have made in this movement to bring about an improve-
ment in the much discussed race question. What you have said
will not only contribute to the war effort but also to the making
of a just peace.

* * * *

CARTER W. WESLE*, Editor-Publisher The Informer, Houston,
Austin and Beaumont, Tex., Dallas Express and New Orleans
Sentinel, and Port Worth, (Tex.) Mind.
I think the conference statement is a historical achievement de-
stined to play a large part in bringing about adjustments, and I be-
lieve it is a charter of Negro rights which all Negroes in the South
can adhere to.

* * ♦ *

FURMAN L. TEMPLETON, Racial Relations Adviser, Office of Ci-
vilian Defense, 3rd Civilian Defense Area, Baltimore, Md.
Although it was not my privilege to attend the conference in
Durham, everything I have read about it leads me to believe that the
work initiated there gives every promise of developing into an effec-
tive force for good. If there was ever a time when the country
needed a clear-cut intelligent and objective statement of the prob-
lem of race relations, that time is now. It appears to me that the
conference findings supply that need.

* * * *

DR. FRED M. ALEXANDER, Supervisor of Negro Education, State
Board of Education, Richmond, Virginia.
I have read this pamphlet with great interest and feel that you
have done an outstanding job.

14

WM. E. TAYLOR, Dean, School of Law, Lincoln University, St. Louis,
Missouri.

The suggestions, proposals and recommendations seem to me
unusually sound and forward looking. For quite a while now I
have been convinced that unless some of the sensible leaders of our
race step to the front and take a statesmanlike stand based upon
realities and conditions as they exist rather than the Utophian pos-
sibilities of which we dream our race will suffer irreparable injury
before the close of the present conflict.

* * * *

DR. JACKSON DAVIS, General Education Board, New York.

The report is straightforward and factual and the restraint of
its phrases carries conviction. It reveals an understanding of the
historical background of Southern life, as well as the social and
economic processes through which the desired changes must be
realized. To my mind it is one of the most constructive steps ever
taken for better race relations in the South. I hope it will meet
with the support that it deserves.

* * * ♦

DR. W. E. B. DuBOIS, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga.

The planning of programs to guide the future of the Negro in
America has not been in vain. On the whole the Durham program
is a pretty good document. I should have written it a little differ-
ently myself, but I would not be unwilling to sign it.

★

Press Comments

Richmond News-Leader

With at least 75 per cent of the declaration, every reasonable
white man probably will find himself in complete accord. The plea
for humanity and for economic justice, which is the basis of the
statement, is the one that will produce more of agreement than ever
has existed between races in the South.

• • * *

Newport News Daily Press

We commend to both whites and Negroes for careful considera-
tion the Durham manifesto. It contains little that is not funda-
mentally sound — things which American citizens have a right to
expect.

♦ • • ♦

Atlanta Constitution

It will be unfortunate if the South does not discuss calmly and
intelligently the basis for inter-racial cooperation advanced recent-
ly by a group of southern Negroes.

If the southern Negro leaders, asking for the cooperation of
the majority race, do not receive encouragement, then the South
will have failed the first effort by southern Negro leadership along
realistic lines.

15

Atlanta Daily World

We commend the work of the Conference. It is the result of
serious study by able and yet conservative Negro leaders, whose
sincerity of purpose and racial earnestness can hardly be questioned.

0 * * •

Christian Science Monitor

Above the clamor of current racial discussion in America, a
quiet, reasoned voice is now heard in behalf of interracial coopera-
tion in the South, through a statement by the committee speaking
for the recently founded Southern Conference on Race Relations.

Advancement in responsibility and rank in military service ac-
cording to ability; equal salaries for Negro and white teachers on
the basis of preparation and experience; additional education facili-
ties; inclusion of Negro doctors on public hospital staffs to treat
Negro patients; organization of Negro service workers into unions
with recognized affiliations; abolition of the poll tax; effective en-
forcement of anti-lynch laws — these and other proposals seem to
furnish a reasonable basis for consideration and action.

* * * *

Norfolk Virginian-Pilot

Out of the Southern Conference on Race Relations that was
held at Durham on October 20 has come a manifesto of historic
importance. It is offered, on behalf of this conference by a draft-
ing committee representative of the South's most responsible Negro
leadership as a 'basis for interracial cooperation" with especial
reference to the problems this cooperation presents in the South-
ern States. Its publication yesterday supersedes, as a declaration
of principles and objectives in this field, the many diverse state-
ments, Negro in authorship, by means of which the country has
been made aware of the dimensions this problem has assumed dur-
ing the last two years of war and preparations for war.

Almost without exception, the remedial, corrective and protec-
tive reforms that the present manifesto indorses, are reforms gen-
erally acknowledged as just in principle, or validated by our highest
court, or actually in incipient application.

* * * •

Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch

There has come to the Ledger-Dispatch, along with many other
newspapers, a report entitled A Basis for Inter-Racial Cooperation
and Development in the South: a Statement by Southern Negroes.
If our colleagues of the Southern press are affected by it as we are,
they are profoundly disquieted.

For this report, let it be noted, is prepared by Southern Negroes,
not by Northern Negroes ... The Ledger-Dispatch knows some of
the men who prepared or collaborated on the preparation of this
report, knows them to be men of quiet ability and of a natural con-
servatism, and it has no doubt that many of its colleagues knows a
number of others.

It deserves, if it does not demand, reflection and study on the
part of the White South — far more of both than is possible in an
hour or two.

16